Moon

One of the things I love about Moon is the simplicity of it.  According to the director, this movie was made for a mere (by Hollywood standards) five million dollars.  That's pretty amazing when you consider how much money is dumped into terrible movies these days.  Moon is simple in presentation and pace, but does not come off as cheap, second-rate, or dull.

The setting for Moon is a mining operation on the far side of the moon, which is manned by one operator, Sam Bell, on a 3-year contract.  We meet him when he is only 3 weeks away from returning to Earth.  While checking out an operation out on the surface, Sam wrecks his vehicle.  He wakes up back at the base, and there's another Sam.  Talk about an identity crisis.  I thought they would end up being adversaries--"There's only room for one Sam Bell on the moon!"  But they ended up working together to figure out what was going on.

Moon will remind the sci-fi movie lover of Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001.  The technology and style of the habitat are reminiscent of the ship in 2001, but the clearest parallel is GERTY, the computer who runs the station.  I thought Moon might follow 2001's sinister turn of HAL, but it didn't turn out like I expected.  Much of the movie's resolution defied my expectations, in very refreshing and interesting ways. 

Dollar for dollar, Moon has to be one of the greatest movies ever.  But even not considering the budget, this is a terrific movie.

Bottom line, 3 1/2 stars.